Intentions to Marry, 1923 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840517, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1923 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1923f contains pages 2125-2670, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2428

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1923 Registrar W. W. White

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

13 October 1923

Frederick Feron
Annie Isabella Bell

Frederick Feron
Annie Isabella Dell
💍 1923/7412

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
domestic duties

25
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 weeks
12 years

Church of England, Hinds

9639

13 October 1923

Rev. J. F. Feron, Church of England

No	68
Date of Notice	13 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Feron	Annie Isabella Bell
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick Feron	Annie Isabella Dell
	💍 1923/7412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	domestic duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 weeks	12 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hinds
Folio	9639
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Feron, Church of England

23 October 1923

Harry Breakey
Agnes Theresa Dillon
formerly Grindlay

Harry Breakey Chatman Funge
Agnes Theresa Dillon
💍 1923/7413

Bachelor
Widow (14 December 1917)

Bricklayer
domestic duties

34
35

Ashburton
Ashburton

34 years
4 years

Presbyterian Manse

9640

23 October 1923

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	69
Date of Notice	23 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Breakey	Agnes Theresa Dillon formerly Grindlay
BDM Match (74%)	Harry Breakey Chatman Funge	Agnes Theresa Dillon
	💍 1923/7413
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (14 December 1917)
Profession	Bricklayer	domestic duties
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	34 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse
Folio	9640
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

26 October 1923

William Kingston
Marjory Drennan

William Kingston Wilson
Marjorie Drennan
💍 1923/7414

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

33
27

Ashburton
Ashburton

5 years
15 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

9641

26 October 1923

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	70
Date of Notice	26 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Kingston	Marjory Drennan
BDM Match (79%)	William Kingston Wilson	Marjorie Drennan
	💍 1923/7414
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	9641
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

26 October 1923

Peter Alexander Goodwin
Joan Young Theresa Cunningham

Peter Alexander Goodwin
Joan Young Theresa Cunningham
💍 1923/7415

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
domestic duties

21
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

21 years
5 years

St Andrews Presbyterian, Ashburton

9642

26 October 1923

Rev. J. D. Morrison, Presbyterian

No	71
Date of Notice	26 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Alexander Goodwin	Joan Young Theresa Cunningham
	💍 1923/7415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	domestic duties
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	21 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian, Ashburton
Folio	9642
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Morrison, Presbyterian

30 October 1923

Thomas John Brady
Annie Alberta Lusk
formerly Candy

Thomas John Brady
Annie Alberta Lusk
💍 1923/7421

Bachelor
Divorced (decree absolute 14 October 1923)

Labourer
domestic duties

35
35

Ashburton
Ashburton

50 years
35 years

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

9643

30 October 1923

W. W. White, Registrar

No	72
Date of Notice	30 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Brady	Annie Alberta Lusk formerly Candy
	💍 1923/7421
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (decree absolute 14 October 1923)
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	35	35
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	50 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	9643
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1923
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).